For many years, gambling and playing table card games, especially poker, have been a traditional pastime and source of enjoyment for many people. Traditional casino games include slot machines, card games such as poker, baccarat, 3-card poker, Caribbean stud, Let it Ride and Texas Hold'em poker etc., dice games and other games. Such traditional games played at a table are a foundation of casino play. Card games are one of the most popular types of table games played at casinos. Prospective casino game players are always looking for new card games that are easy to learn, challenging, exciting and rewarding. Further, casinos and gambling establishments are interested in card games that attract new players, create player loyalty and increase revenues to the casinos and gambling establishments.
Poker is played with a standard deck of playing cards, the cards being ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (The ace may be considered the “low” card in certain situations). There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, all of the suits are ranked equally, that is to say that no suit has a value higher than the others. In a “standard” poker game, a player must use his available cards to form the highest value five-card hand. The hands are ranked, from highest value to lowest value, as follows: Royal Flush (Straight Flush consisting of 10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace), Straight Flush (All cards in numerical sequence and of the same suit), Four-of-a-kind (Four cards of same value), Full house (Three-of-a-kind and a pair), Flush (All cards of the same suit), Straight (All cards in numerical sequence), Three-of-a-kind, Two Pair, Pair, High Card. If two players each have the same value hand, then the higher-ranked cards in the category wins. For example, a pair of Kings is of higher value than a pair of queens. If players have identically ranked hands (for example, if they each have a pair of aces), then the remaining cards are used to determine the winner. A player with AAK95 defeats a player with AAQ95, by virtue of having a king as a “kicker” which is better than a queen kicker.
In a standard poker game, poker is typically always played using a buy-in system and betting system either ante or blinds or a combination and limit or no limit that is generally universal across most poker games, such as Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Draw, to name a few examples. To describe one exemplary game which will be referenced throughout the application, Texas Hold'em poker is played as follows:                1) One player is designated as the dealer. This is done whether the actual player is dealing the cards or whether the dealing is performed by a casino-provided dealer. After every hand, the dealer position rotates clockwise around the table.        2) Players place a buy-in bet. This bet may be in the form of an ante, wherein every player places an equal amount of money into the central pot, and/or in the form of a blind, wherein one or more of the players to the left of the dealer place a sum of money into the central pot as a “blind bet”, a bet placed before the player has seen his cards.        3) Players receive their “hole” cards, such cards being hidden from the other players. In Texas Hold'em, the players each receive two facedown cards.        4) Players have one round of betting, such a round beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeding clockwise around the table. The player acting as the dealer is typically considered to be in the best position by virtue of being last to act: he can see how each other player is going to wager before deciding how to represent his hand. The active player may perform one of a number of actions during the betting round: He may “Raise”, increasing the wager that each player wishing to remain in the hand must place into the center of the table. He may “Call”, matching the wager made by a previous player that is required to remain in the hand. He may “Fold”, discarding his hand and refusing to match the wager required to remain in the hand. If the active player is first to act and/or no other player has raised the wager amount, then he may also “Check”, declining to raise the amount to be matched but indicating his desire to remain in the hand. This betting round continues around the table until a) players fold such that only one player remains, in which case the remaining player wins the pot; b) one player raises and all other players call or fold. In this case, the betting round is over and the game continues to the following step; or c) all players check, in which case the betting round is over and the game continues to the following step.        5) After the first round of betting, three cards known as “community cards” are dealt face-up by the dealer. This first set of community cards is generally known as the “Flop”. The community cards are useable by any player, and will be used at the end of the hand, known as the “showdown”, by each player to form a five-card poker hand in combination with the player's “hole” cards.        6) A second round of betting, identical to the first round of betting occurs.        7) A fourth community card is dealt face-up by the dealer. This card is known as the “Turn”.        8) A third round of betting, identical to the first round of betting occurs.        9) A fifth, final community card is dealt face-up by the dealer. This card is known as the “River”.        10) A fourth, final round of betting occurs. After this round of betting, if more than one player remains in the hand, the last player to “raise” must show his hand, while other players may show their hand or discard their cards. The player with the highest hand that is shown is awarded the pot.        
A number of casino games in which a player is dealt a large initial hand and must split this large, initial hand into two smaller hands to be sequentially played currently exist. One example of such a game is “Pai Gow poker”. Pai Gow Poker is a casino table game that is played against the casino, it involves only a single bet which occurs before the cards are dealt. There are no betting rounds as in other types of poker. In Pai Gow Poker, a player is dealt an initial hand of seven cards. The player chooses two cards from this initial seven card hand to form one of the smaller hands, and the remaining five cards form the other smaller hand. In Pai Gow Poker, the hand must be split according to a certain formula: for example, the five card hand must have a higher poker hand ranking than the two card hand. The player's two card hand is scored against the dealer's two card hand, and the player's five card hand is scored against the dealer's five card hand, the winner of each hand winning half of the money bet. As such a card-splitting step adds a level of control over a player's hands that is not present in typically played games such as Texas Hold'Em, a game that incorporates such a step can have a level of excitement and complexity that is not possible in “simpler” poker games. It would be desirable to provide a game that used a system of hand-splitting similar to Pai Gow Poker, but that further allowed a betting system that was more substantially similar to the manner of betting that is used in typical poker games, specifically “community card” games.
Accordingly, a need exists for a new and unique casino game that meets the needs of the players and gaming houses which is easy to learn, which follows the standard rules of poker to a substantial extent, and which delivers a new method of play to create an enjoyable method of playing poker with unique game-play and a finishing hand value that is typically higher than the finishing hand value in a “normal” Texas Hold'em poker hand.